Method of closing and forming pliable containers filled with a liquid



1966 JEAN-LUC BERRY ETAL 3,

METHOD OF CLOSING AND FORMING PLIABLE CONTAINERS FILLED WITH A LIQUIDFiled May 27. 1963 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 In venlzors jednLuo Ber y EdgaDardaine, ym WWW w Oct. 25, 1966 JEAN-LUC BERRY ETAL 3,280,532 METHOD OFCLOSING AND FORMING PLIABLE CONTAINERS FILLED WITH A LIQUID Filed May27, 1963 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Im/emLors jean-LL40. Berry Ed a:- Dar-dame siilz zoa mwwmu United States Patent 3 280 532 METHOD or cLosrNG ANnFORMING PLIABLE CONTAINERS FILLED WITH A LIQUID Jean-Lac Berry and EdgarDardaine, Poissy, France, as-

signors to Societe E. P. Remy et Cie, Poissy, France, a company ofFrance Filed May 27, 1963, Ser. No. 283,390 Claims priority, applicationFrance, June 5, 1962,

6 Claims. (or. 53-46) This invention relates to pliable containers orcartons for liquids and is concerned more particularly with the closingof the upper end of prismatic containers already filled with liquid.

These containers or cartons are usually parallelepipedic and aregenerally made of a pliable or semirigid sheet which can for example beof plastic material or preferably a complex comprising a resistant papercoated on both surfaces with a substance capable of being heatwelded,such as polyethylene. Using this sheet, a parallelepipedic bag or cartonis formed, the base of which is welded in liquid-tight manner and foldedto form a rectangular end, but it is obvious that such a carton could beobtained by any other means; it could comprise, for example, an endjoined to the pliable or semirigid parallelepipedic walls. After havingfilled the carton with liquid, for example milk, the upper parts of itslateral walls are folded and closed so as to form a liquid-tight coveror upper end of rectangular form. All these operations are carried outby machine and there is thus obtained containers filled with liquidwhich can be easily grouped in packages of reduced volume because oftheir parallelepipedic form.

Known methods of closing cartons filled with liquid consist in foldingthe upper part of the lateral walls in the form of a rectangular endbefore carrying out the liquid-tight welding, or in carrying out the twooperations simultaneously, the deformation and the folding beingeffected in an absolutely mechanical manner and associated with thewelding. For example, a matrix maintains the parallelepipedic form ofthe part of the carton filled with liquid, while the upper part isdeformed by means of fingers which extend into the carton and gripperdevices which engage these edges and fold them flat in order to form arectangular end, while other members carry out the liquid-tight welds.The machines carrying these methods into effect necessarily comprisemouldable members executing complex movements and are consequently verycomplicated. Furthermore, these machines comprise fingers which areintroduced into the cartons, thereby providing the danger of introducingimpurities into the liquid which they contain and of polluting orcontaminating the said liquid. This is a serious disadvantage,especially when this liquid is a food such as milk.

The invention has for its object to provide a method of and a means forenabling the closing and the shaping of the upper end of the cartonsfilled with liquid to be carried out by very simple operations and underperfectly hygienic conditions. The invention also covers the containerswhich have this closure means.

According to one aspect of the invention there is provided a method ofclosing and shaping the upper end of a parallelepipedic container havingpliable or semirigid walls and filled with liquid, which methodcomprises closing the upper opening of the container in a liquid-tightand complete'manner, and deforming the upper part of the container thusclosed in order to obtain a fiat end con-- nected to two ears, shapingof the upper end being effected by giving the upper part of the lateralwalls of the package a progressively prismatic form at the same time asflattening the closed upper part, as a result of which the previous3,239,532 Patented Oct. 25, 1966 closing of the upper opening is finaland the ears form spaces which constitute part of the internal volume ofthe container.

According to a second aspect of the invention there is provided acontainer having pliable or semirigid walls and filled with liquid,comprising in its upper part a fiat end connected to two triangularears, each formed of two walls respectively fast with the flat end and alateral wall of the container, in which the ears constitute liquid-tightspaces communicating freely with the internal volume of the container.

These ears are a very interesting feature of the invention, because theyconstitute two projections enabling one carton or two juxtaposed cartonsto be gripped between two fingers of the same hand. Moreover, theinternal volume of the ears forms part of the volume of the container.It is sufiicient to cut the point of one ear in order to obtain a veryconvenient pouring spout.

The liquid-filled carton is preferably positioned with its opening atthe top and the lower part of the carton is kept in parallelepipedicform over a small height, for example by means of a matrix or a sleeve,and the lips of the openings are brought together along a straight lineparallel to two of the faces of the said cartons, the upper unsupportedpart of the carton being deformed as required. The opening is thenclosed by continuous tight welding from one end to the other of the lipsthus brought together. The upper part of the carton is thenprogressively made parallelepipedic and pressure is simultaneous'lyapplied to the upper welded part, which is deformed in order to producea flat end connected to two triangular ears.

One example of the method of this invention and the container usedtherewith will now be described with reference to the accompany-ingdrawings in which:

FIGURE 1 shows an open and unfilled container, seen in perspective.

FIGURE 2 shows the container filled with liquid and at the moment ofclosing the same.

FIGURES 3 and 4 show the container in two differen stages during theoperation of shaping the upper end.

FIGURE 5 shows two containers which are filled and closed and are readyto be packed for delivery.

The carton shown in FIGURE 1 is made from a complex material formed by asheet of kraft paper coated with polyethylene on its two surfaces, thepaper having been first of all marked with longitudinal creases 1, whichdefine its lateral corners and transverse creases 2, which define thecontour of its lower end and transverse creases 3 which define theliquid level and the contour of the upper end. Inclined score lines suchas 4 and 5 respectively mark the position of the folds of the bottom endand upper end. The sheet is then folded at 6 and the margins 7 thereofwhich have been brought together are welded to form a tube. This tube isgiven a parallelepipedic shape and its lower part is welded andflattened along the folds 2 and 4 in order to form a rectangular end, 8.All the operations are well known t o persons skilled in the art andthey will not therefore be described in detail. A parallelepipediccarton is obtained which has a rectangular end 6 and four lateral faces11, 12, 13 and 14, the face 13 containing the weld 7 and the face 14having the score line 6.

The carton is positioned vertically and filled with liquid up to thelevel of the folds 3, and FIGURE 2 illustrates the first operation ofclosing the upper end.

'The carton is placed, preferably before filling, in a rigid sleeve 9which is of rectangular section and has a height substantially smallerthan the carton, said sleeve strictly maintaining the parallelepipedicform of the lower part of the carton. The upper margins 10a and 10b oftwo opposite faces 11 and 12 of the carton are brought together so as toobtain two lips which are applied one against the other at along astraight line extending from the weld 7 to the score line 6. It will beseen from the drawing that the upper part of the carton, due to thepliability of its walls and the fluidity of the liquid containertherein, then takes the rough form of a half tetrahedron merging intothe lower part which is kept parallelepipedic by the sleeve 9.

The liquid-tight heat-welding or sealing of the two lips broughttogether at 10 is then carried out by a known means, this Welding beingeffected over the'entire length of the lips, from the weld 7 to thescore line 6 and consequently completely and finallycloses the carton.

In order to give the upper end its rectangular form, the procedure is asindicated in FIGURES 3 and 4. The carton is turned upside down and it ispositioned on a pressure member 15, which is shown diagrammatically inFIGURE 3 by the arrow a, so as to subject it to a thrust in thedirection of this arrow. At the same time, the sleeve 9 is sliddownwardly along the lateral faces of the carton. In positioning thecarton on the pressure members 15, care is taken to flatten the'weld 10in the same direction as the weld 7. The pressure member 15 preferablyhas van upper rectangular face, the width e of'which isequal to orslightly less than the width of the faces 11 and 12.

FIGURE 3 shows the progressive deformation of the carton, whereby itis'possible on completing the operation (FIGURE 4) to obtain arectangular endwhich is defined by the folds 3 and connected to two ears16 and 17 of general triangular form which are an extension of the faces13 and 14. These ears are formedby the faces 13v and 14 being foldedflat along score lines 5.

The sleeve 9 is then gripped and the container turned over, the saidcontainer sliding easily out of this sleeve. The use of the. sleeve 9thus enables the container to be manipulated from the formation of thelower end 8 until it is placed in position for dispatch, without havingto touch the container itself and consequently of providing the dangerof damaging or soiling it. I

This rigid sleeve thus makes it possible for the pliable or semirigidcontainers, which are empty or full, closed or unclosed, tobemanipulated by entirely mechanical means exactly in the-same way asrigid objects, for example bottles.

It is to be observed that the score lines 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 are notessential andthat the method of procedure described gives equivalentresults when these score lines are not present. It should on the otherhand be noted that if pressure member 15 had a width greater than thatof the faces 11 and 12, the ears 16 and 17 would also be formed andwould be located in the extension of the upper end.

In addition to the advantages already referred to in connection with themethod according to the invention, the reversing of the container afterhaving effected the welding of the lips brought together at 10 assuresthat the liquid is brought into contact with this weld and consequentlythe latter is cooled. This cooling is particularly advantageous, becauseit improves the mechanical resistance of the'weld at 'a moment when theoperation described with reference to FIGURES 3 and 4 cause it to besubjected to forces.

Nevertheless, it would also be possible for the method according to theinvention to be applied without reversing the carton. The sleeve 9could, for example, be telescopic and have a lower part which holds thelower part of the carton and a part which slides upwardly in order toensure the shaping of the upper part .of the carton and the rectangularupper end, in association with a member similar to 15 bearing downwardlyon the weld 10 and the adjoining part. It is seen that the operations ofclosing the carton and of shaping the .upper end only require verysimple accessories and movements. These operations can be carried out bymachines comprising a very small number of elements and extremelyreduced kinematics.

FIGURE 5 shows how it is possible simultaneously to lift two cartons bygripping the ears by 16 and ldthereof between two fingers.

If desired, the elements which initially maintain the shape of thelowerpartof the carton and then reestablish the parallelepipedic form ofthe part adjoining the upper end need not be sliding sleeves, but canfor example be matrices with movable elements.

Whatwe claim is:

1. A method of sealing and shaping the open end of a substantiallyrectangular container having pliable lateral walls and filled with asubstantially fluid material, comprising the steps of juxtap-ositioningthe free marginal edges of said walls along a straight line, securingsaid edges together from end to end to finally seal said open end,sliding a rectangular sleeve having a cross section substantially equalto that of said container along said Walls in a direction towards saidsealed end, while applying a flat surface under pressure to said sealedend in an opposite direction to the movement of said sleeve, Whereby aflat rectangular end is formed which is connected to two triangulartabs.

2. A method according to claim 1 in which said flat surface has a lengthextending along said secured edges which is smaller than thecorresponding Width of the completed flat rectangular end so that saidtabs form upright triangular projections.

3. A method according to claim 1 further comprising the step or" turningthe sealed end of said container down after said step of securing saidedges together.

4. A method according to claim 3 wherein the sealed end of saidcontainer is maintained down during said step of sliding until'saidsleeve reaches the level of said flat rectangular end and furthercomprising the steps of then.

turning said sealed end upwards and removing said sleeve.

5. A method according to claim 1 wherein said sleeve is positioned overa portion of said container adjacent said edges prior to said step ofsecuring said edges together, so that said portion is maintained inparallelepipedic form while the remainder of-the lateral Walls takes asubstantially semiltetrahedral form before the shaping of the sealed endis effected.

6. A method of sealing and shaping the open end of a substantiallyrectangular container having pliable lateral walls and filled with asubstantially fluid material, comprising the steps of placing saidcontainer with said open end upwards, juxtapositioning the free marginaledges of said walls along a straight line, placing a rectangular sleevehaving a cross section substantially equal to that References Cited bythe Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,152,323 3/ 1939 Moore 53-46 X2,196,666 4/1940 Moore 53- 16 X 2,229,864 1/1941 Moore 5346- X 2,255,975"9/1941 Hulltkrans 53--39 TRAVIS S.-

Primwry' Examiner.

1. A METHOD OF SEALING AND SHAPING THE OPEN END OF A SUBSTANTIALLYRECTANGULAR CONTAINER HAVING PLIABLE LATERAL WALLS AND FILLED WITH ASUBSTANTIALLY FLUID MATERIAL, COMPRISING THE STEPS OF JUXTAPOSITIONINGTHE FREE MARGINAL EDGES OF SAID WALLS ALONG A STRAIGHT LINE, SECURINGSAID EDGES TOGETHER FROM END TO END TO FINALLY SEAL SAID OPENEND,SLIDING A RECTANGULAR SLEEVE HAVING A CROSS SECTION SUBSTANTIALLY EQUALTO THAT OF SAID CONTAINER ALONG SAID WALLS IN A DIRECTION TOWARDS SAIDSEALED END, WHILE APPLYING A FLAT SURFACE UNDER PRESSURE TO SAID SEALEDEND IN AN OPPOSITE DIRECTION TO THE MOVEMENT OF SAID SLEEVE, WHEREBY AFLAT RECTANGULAR END IS FORMED WHICH IS CONNECTED TO TWO TRIANGULARTABS.